Koirala, Prachanda meeting ends inconclusively

Prachanda stuck to the Maoists’ demands for Constituent Assembly elections based on proportional representation system and declaring the Himalayan country a republic through interim parliamentary declaration.

On the other hand, Koirala was unmoved on his stand that decision on the fate of monarchy in the country can be taken only after the Constituent Assembly elections are held.

The meeting is part of a series of high profile parleys that Koirala is holding for finding a solution to the political stalemate and to keep the peace process intact.

Prachanda reportedly told Koirala that without the guarantee of Constituent Assembly elections based on proportional representation, the polls cannot be held.

Koirala also asked Prachanda to withdraw their proposal from the interim session of the Parliament for declaring the Himalayan country republic at the special session of the Parliament.

The special session began on Thursday to consider the demand by the Maoists for declaring the Himalayan country as Republic and adopting fully proportional voting system. The demands of the Maoists are supported by fringe communist parties.

On Thursday, CPN (UML) General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the political crisis is unlikely to be resolved since the Nepali Congress (NC), the largest party, has decided to vote against the Maoists’ proposal in the parliament.

Due to the lack of NC support, the Maoists will fall short of mandatory two-third majority.

The international community has been trying to get the Maoists to agree to a compromise formula. The Government of India has also sent a special envoy, Shyam Saran, to persuade the different parties concerned to agree on the holding of early elections. (ANI)